Mapping the scientific knowledge of glomalin-related soil protein with implications for carbon sequestration

ABSTRACT

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) derived refractory organic matter, mainly in glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), stores globally significant amounts of carbon, attracting wide attention in response to climatic change. However, there is no synthesis review has been done so far to reveal global research progresses on GRSP, especially its ecological role for climate mitigation. Here,we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the papers on GRSP research from 1998 to 2021, based on the Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection.We collected a total of 634 papers and analyzed the characteristics of publication outputs in various countries and institutions. In addition, keywords analysis was conducted to reveal the main research directions and hot trends in the field of GRSP. We confirmed that 1) the number of papers published per year has gradually increased since 2010, and increased sharply in 2019; 2) the United States was the earliest country to conduct GRSP research, while China currently has the largest number of publications; 3) relevant studies focus on the role from AMF and GRSP in soil health and plant health; 4) the contribution of GRSP to soil carbon and its ecological function in mitigating climate change are the hotspot of research. The benefits of GRSP have become a consensus, however, the nature of glomalin and the mechanisms of GRSP-associated benefits still need to explore. As an important soil recalcitrant organic carbon, further studies are need to elucidate the land-ocean biogeochemical processes of GRSP and its contribution to global blue carbon.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon sequestration
• plant resistance
• heavy metal
• soil aggregate

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [42076168], the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China [2021J01047], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China [20720210075] and Independent Research and Development project of Key Laboratory of the Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems (Xiamen University), Ministry of Education. The authors thank Professor John Merefield from University of Exeter for suggestion on scientific writing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [42076168], the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China [2021J01047], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China [20720210075] and Independent Research and Development project of Key Laboratory of the Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems (Xiamen University), Ministry of Education.